


Drown

by evilmingyu



Category: Free!
Genre: I don't know why I wrote this, I'm sorry okay, M/M, reigisa makes me emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:44:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5719768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilmingyu/pseuds/evilmingyu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa thought that training camp was going to go smoothly</p><p>aka: the moment Nagisa's world came crashing down</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drown

When Nagisa swam up to the beach, he expected Rei to be there. It was a hot summer, a lot warmer than the one the previous year.The water had felt even better than it usually had back in Iwatobi. Rei and Nagisa had both been excited to jump into the water, they even imitated Haru by ridding their clothes the moment they saw the water. Nagisa had challenged Rei to a race, and surprisingly, Rei had agreed. So when Nagisa had finished the last leg of the training camp, he expected Rei to be there laughing with him. He expected to see (more like hear) Rei saying that of course he had won, because his beautiful stroke compared to no other. He expected him to be panting, like after a jog, skin glistening in the sunlight. But then he wasn’t.

Nagisa didn’t want to worry, Rei was a good swimmer, after all, they had won nationals together. Rei had always had Nagisa's complete trust in everything, even when Rei wasn't able to swim, Nagisa was always there to cheer him on. Nagisa couldn't suddenly just start thinking that something bad had happened to him. And besides, they had swam between the islands more times than Nagisa could count. If there was anyone that Nagisa would be worried about, it would be their underclassmen who had never swum in anything but a pool.

But when everyone was on the island and accounted for except for Rei, Nagisa started to get anxious. Rei was never one to be late. He was always on time, or way too early for class. He never missed practice (other than the time when they thought he was going to join the track team once again), and he made sure never to inconvenience anyone. The fact that he hadn't arrived yet was worrying.

Nagisa thought back to a few days before. They had brought their new recruits to Haru's house to continue their 'tradition' from the year before. They all had a swell time, and even Makoto swung by to say hey. In fact, the two of them bid Rei and Nagisa farewell when they embarked on their journey. But, before they had left Iwatobi for the training camp, Makoto and Haru had warned them about the weather near the islands. Nagisa had to assure them that they would be okay, and yes, everything that they will be doing will be perfectly legal.

When they had swam to the final island, the one they were standing on right now, there had been a slightly large wave that had separated Nagisa from the underclassmen. But, Nagisa had assured himself that Rei would be okay, because there was nothing they couldn’t do together.

But now they were apart.

Nagisa dove back into the water, telling his kouhais to stay put and stay calm. He would be sure to find Rei. He didn't know what he would do if he lost him.

He did the one stroke he could always rely on to carry him anywhere quickly, the breast stroke. His fingers extended the farther he swam, and his heartbeat seemed like the water to him. He pushed it aside, determined to find his best friend.

Best friend. What a funny pair of words. It couldn’t describe the way he felt towards Rei. It couldn’t contain the emotions he had for the beautiful wonder. Beautiful. That was a word to describe Rei. It was the word he used for a sunny summer day. It was the word he used for the way Haru swam. It was the word that seemed meaningless right now. Terrified. That was the word to describe how Nagisa was feeling.

There was a flash of blue. Nagisa could’ve sworn he felt his heart stop. Nagisa swam deeper into the water, hands reaching out for the only hope he had to find Rei. His fingers snagged on the fabric, and he was relieved when he felt the muscular body attached. Nagisa kicked his feet up towards the surface, doing his best to be fast whilst carrying Rei. He tried to ignore the fact that Rei’s body was limp in his arms. He tried to be relieved for just a little while. He had found him. That was enough for now. Nagisa would worry about things when he got that point.

Nagisa struggled to carry Rei whilst swimming, his head went under the water a lot more than he would have liked. He kept his fingers clutched around the fabric of Rei's swimming trunks, forcing them not to shake, because if his hands were shaking, then that meant that Nagisa needed to calm down. And Nagisa didn't need to calm down. His heart was pounding out of his chest, and his mind was racing everywhere, but Nagisa didn't need to calm down. Nagisa just needed Rei to be okay.

When his bare feet touched the sand, Nagisa let out a sigh of relief. He brought Rei to safety, he allowed himself to be proud.

At shore, Nagisa was panting, because after all, he wasn’t the most muscular guy in the swim team (if he had to choose it would be Makoto), and he wasn’t the most athletic (that would definitely be Rei). He did his best to stay in shape for the sake of speed, but land was not his forte.

His underclassmen watched with mouths agape, as Nagisa dragged Rei. Then afterwards, Nagisa’s world came crashing down and everything seemed to go in a blur.

If Nagisa had to describe it, the whole ordeal went down like this. In a flash, his underclassmen had split up into two groups. Some of them started running around, calling for help, and the others stood frozen in shock. Gou had sprinted to the shore where she desperately tried to check for a pulse. Nagisa remembered the way she looked at him with such sadness and guilt, but he refused to believe it. He pressed his lips to Rei’s in an attempt of mouth to mouth. He could describe how cold Rei’s lips were, and how Nagisa had always wanted to kiss him, but not like this. Not like this. Every time Nagisa looked at Rei’s lips, they were always moving, trying to figure something out, when they weren’t it was because he was shocked, or when he felt like there wasn’t anything he needed to say, which was a rarity in itself. But now, Nagisa wanted him to move those lips so badly. Wanted to know that he was okay.

When Rei didn’t react, and didn’t start breathing after the emergency CPR, Nagisa didn’t want to believe it. Maybe he didn’t do it properly. Maybe he needed to push a different part of Rei’s chest for it to work. Or maybe he needed to open Rei’s mouth a little wider. Or maybe he should stop crying because Nagisa was hysterical and he couldn’t focus with salty tears running down his face. Maybe Nagisa should step back and let Rei breathe, because Rei wasn’t dead. He was beautiful, and graceful, and alive, he wasn’t dead. Rei wouldn’t die on Nagisa. Rei wouldn’t let him cry like this. Rei would do anything in his power to make sure that Nagisa and Gou would never cry because they weren’t beautiful when they cried. Rei would never.

“Rei-chan, please don’t do this to me, I’ll hate you forever if you do. I’ll never forgive you Rei-chan, so please please please don’t leave me. Didn’t we want to swim at nationals again this year? Weren’t we going to win with your stunning butterfly stroke? Weren’t you going to show me how much better you had gotten in the backstroke, you wanted to show Mako-chan remember? I thought you were going to teach me how to do the butterfly stroke like you, Rei-chan. Please don’t do this to me, please,” Nagisa bawled, clutching on to Rei’s shoulders, desperately shaking them because Rei wouldn’t like to be shook and maybe if Nagisa annoyed him enough, Rei would scold him.

Nagisa could hear Gou’s sobs beside him, and knew that Rei wouldn’t scold him. Nagisa knew that he wouldn’t hear Rei’s melodic voice, and he would never swim with him, and at that moment, Nagisa knew that he was in love. And Nagisa thought about how cruel this twist of fate was because if only he had realized it sooner, then maybe they wouldn’t have gotten separated and Nagisa wouldn’t have been broken.

**Author's Note:**

> hi this was actually the first bit of angst I've ever written, and I thought, go big or go home, so here we are


End file.
